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0:06Skip to 0 minutes and 6 secondsHi there. A very warm welcome to the University of Nottingham and to this course, How To Read Your Boss. I'm Louise Mullany, associate professor of sociolinguistics in the School of English. I spend my time researching and teaching how the language strategies that we use encode a significant amount of information about our identities, our culture, and the societies where we live and work. I'm particularly interested in professional communication in businesses and organisations. This short course explores some of the most important current developments in this field. You'll be introduced to a range of cutting-edge linguistic approaches. These include samples from a set of linguistic tool kits for analysing your own talk, your boss's talk, and the talk of your colleagues.

0:56Skip to 0 minutes and 56 secondsNo previous knowledge of linguistics is required for you to be able to study this course. It has been designed for you to complete all of the different stages even if you've never heard of sociolinguistics or professional communications before.

1:10Skip to 1 minute and 10 secondsThe majority of language choices that we make in our workplace conversations tend to take place below the level of our conscious awareness. The key aim of this course is to provide a short introduction to some basic techniques to help raise your awareness of the language strategies that are used in your own workplaces.

1:30Skip to 1 minute and 30 secondsThis will enable you to begin to read your boss more effectively, as well as analysing yourself and other colleagues, too. It is designed to help you enrich the communication strategies that you use in your professional lives.

1:44Skip to 1 minute and 44 secondsThroughout the course, you'll be encouraged to take the time to reflect upon your own language styles and the styles of others so that we can begin to pinpoint exactly how we communicate with one another at work.

1:57Skip to 1 minute and 57 secondsWe'll be sharing stories and analysing your own examples of workplace conversations. We'll give you the tools you need to identify the different types of communication cultures that operate in your workplace. We'll also spend some time doing hands-on practical analysis derived from real-life business talk.

2:17Skip to 2 minutes and 17 secondsIt's really great to see so many of you signed up for How to Read Your Boss. I'm really looking forward to engaging with you throughout the course.

Introducing ‘How to Read Your Boss’

Welcome to the course. Watch the video above for a complete overview, including an introduction to your Lead Educator, Louise Mullany.

Feel free to introduce yourselves in the Comments section and tell us why you decided to sign up for this course.